Although some familiar faces, including captain Dion Phaneuf, Shawn Matthias, Nick Spaling and James Reimer, were traded in the process, the Maple Leafs retooled their roster to get younger. Those moves and a barrage of injuries gave prospects such as William Nylander, Nikita Soshnikov, Zach Hyman, Connor Brown, Josh Leivo, Kasperi Kapanen, Frederik Gauthier, Connor Carrick, Viktor Loov and Rinat Valiev an opportunity to show what they can do at the end of last season.
Watching those young players learn and seeing the Maple Leafs grow throughout the season under coach Mike Babcock has van Riemsdyk believing they have turned the corner after failing to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 10 of the past 11 seasons.
"I think last year the way we played, as opposed to the couple years before that, we were right there every game," he said. "We were a couple plays away, it seemed, from winning games. It's such a fine line and every team is so close. We'll be ready to go from the start and we know we have a lot of work ahead of us, but there's also a lot of potential, so it's really exciting."
Perhaps the biggest reason for that excitement is the addition of center Auston Matthews. Like their fans, Maple Leafs players were thrilled when they won the 2016 NHL Draft Lottery and the right to select Matthews with the No. 1 pick.